Did a U-Boat sink the British steamer TAPLOW?

[Malcolm12hl]

The British tramp steamer TAPLOW sailed from Huelva in southwest Spain for Port Talbot with a cargo of copper bars on 5 June 1917 and was never heard from again.  Some sources suggest that she might have been sunk by a U-Boat, but as far as I am aware her loss has not been attributed to any individual submarine.  I know that there were some cases in which a sinking could only be provisionally attributed to a U-Boat known to be operating in the vicinity because the submarine herself was lost before she could report any successes, and I would be interested to know if there were any U-Boats operating along the TAPLOW's route which might fall into this category.  The voyage would have taken the TAPLOW northwards up the entire coast of the Iberian peninsula and then across the Bay of Biscay to the St. George's Channel.

 

The TAPLOW was a relatively modern (built 1905 as TALAVERA), mid-sized (314 feet/2,891 G.R.T.) vessel operated by a well-established company (the Britain Steamship Co. Ltd., managed by Watts, Watts & Co. Ltd. of London), but she might still have fallen victim to weather or some other marine misfortune, rather than any form of enemy action.  As far as I am aware, there were no reports of identifiable wreckage coming ashore or floatsam being picked up at sea.

 

Can any of the U-Boat experts on the Forum let me know if there were any possible U-Boat candidates to tie to the TAPLOW's loss?

[Michael Lowrey]

Malcolm,

 

No, there aren't any U-boats lost on patrol that might be tied to Taplow's disappearance. The U-boats lost about then:

 

UC 66 (Pustkuchen) was bombed and sunk off the Scillies on May 27, 1917 — too early.

UC 29 (Rosenow) was sunk by a Q-ship in the western English Channel on June 7, 1917 — also too soon.

U 99 (Eltester) sailed on June 12, 1917 and was last in contact with U 62 the next day. Eltester's boat though was on its first patrol and was assigned to operate in the North Sea.

U 69 (Wilhelm) sailed on July 9, 1917 from Emden and was possibly lost on July 12th — too late.

 

The sinking of Taplow is more likely the work of either U 66 (von Bothmer) on June 10 or U 82 (Adam) with the equally missing Highbury being the victim of the other attack. The conventional attribution is that U 82 sank Highbury but it's a tricky case.

 

More later.

 

Best wishes,

Michael

[Malcolm12hl]

Michael

 

Thank you for getting back to me so promptly.  I had not realised that there was any uncertainty over which boat sank the HIGHBURY, which by coincidence is another interest of mine, as she too was owned by the Britain Steamship Co. Ltd of Watts, Watts & Co., a history of which I am writing.  The HIGHBURY was a significantly newer (1912) and larger (390 feet, 4,831 G.R.T.) vessel, although I'm not sure this would have been sufficient to distinguish one from the other, particularly if a U-Boat was carrying out a periscope attack or operating at night.  More relevant to telling the two cases apart might be the victims' different courses: the HIGHBURY was inbound from Halifax on the last leg of a voyage from Antofagasta for Liverpool with a cargo of nitrate, and should have been to the northwest of the TAPLOW and steering a more easterly course.  In addition, Lloyd's War Losses states that several bodies were washed up in Killala Bay, Co. Sligo over the week June 22-29, one of which was identified as Mr. Roberts, the Master of the HIGHBURY, which would suggest that the HIGHBURY was sunk far to the north of where the TAPLOW might have gone down.

 

I look forward to hearing more from you!

 

Malcolm

[charlie2]

Malcolm,

I‘m not a U-Boot expert by any stretch of the imagination but Vol 4 of the German OH, der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten records without doubt that the Highbury was sunk by U82. It records „14.6. In the morning,  the underway english steamer Highbury, 4831T sunk by torpedo. 261 on map IV“ - attached. I can‘t find any reference to the Taplow and there is no detailed index to the book.
Charlie

[Michael Lowrey]

Malcolm,

 

OK, let's set this up as a table:

 

Highbury, 4831 grt, Missing since sailing Halifax, N.S., 31 May 1917, voy. Antofagasta - Birkenhead, nitrate, bodies of two crew washed up Killala Bay, Co. Sligo

Taplow, 2981 grt, Missing since sailing from Huelva, 5 June 1917, for Port Talbot, copper, copper ore, etc

 

No survivors from either steamer, so no sinking times and positions. Given their cargoes, both are good candidates to go down fast if torpedoed.

 

The attacks:

 

U 66, 10 June: submerged attacks a few hours apart sinking two ships sailing independently, the first is an estimated 5,000 grt, the second of an estimated 8,000 tons. One of these, apparently the second (based upon the time given, KTB vs NSM), was the 6,583 grt steamer Bay State. The Naval Staff Monograph gives the location of the Bay State sinking as 53°N., 16°09'W. The looks reasonable compared to U 66's plot map.

U 82, 14 June: surfaced torpedo shot and sinking claim for a steamer of an estimated 6,000 tons at 48°25'N, 10°07'W. 

 

In all cases, the ships sunk were not identified by the U-boat involved (source: U-boat war diaries). U-boat tonnage estimates of ships sunk are often off, so take them with a load of salt.

 

Spindler's attribution, as Charlie mentioned, is that U 82 sank Highbury with no answer for the other ship U 66 sank. The obvious issue is that it's very hard to get Highbury to 48°25'N, 10°07'W given where the bodies washed up. If though you accept Spindler's attribution for Highbury and seek an answer for Taplow, it's also hard to place her well west of Ireland where U 66 sank something.

 

The alternative would be have U 82 sink Taplow and U 66 sink Highbury. (There's no survivor statement or ship identification by a U-boat that prevents this). Issues would remain though. The location for Taplow would make sense but it would require a rather slow passage.

 

Best wishes,

Michael

[Michael Lowrey]

Bay State and the other sinking by U 66 are numbers 243 and 244 on the map Charlie posted.

[Malcolm12hl]

Michael and Charlie

 

Thank you both for all of this very interesting information and analysis.  On the face of things, it seems to me that there is a strong case for thinking that Spindler's attribution of the sinking of the HIGHBURY to U 82 was incorrect.  Not only is it very difficult to reconcile the position of U 82's attack with the location where the bodies were subsequently washed up, but there is no obvious reason why the HIGHBURY would have been so far south if she was making for the Mersey.  This being the case, there seems to be a good case for thinking that she was actually one of U 66's two victims.  The reported location of the U 82 attack, however, would be on a very plausible course track for the TAPLOW on a heading from the west coast of the Iberian peninsula for the Bristol Channel.  This would pre-suppose a rather slow passage on the part of the steamer, but the implied rate of progress is not implausible, particularly if weather or machinery problems slowed the ship down.  Any further thoughts would be most welcome.

 

Malcolm

[Michael Lowrey]

Some additional information: The "Mr. Roberts" mentioned above wasn't Highbury's master but rather her second mate. His CWGC entry is here: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/671035/roberts,-/

[Malcolm12hl]

Michael

 

Thank you for setting the record straight on "Mr. Roberts".  Interesting that his remains should have been returned all the way to Portmadog in North Wales for burial - I doubt he would have been accorded this treatment if he had been serving in the Navy.  He does not seem to be listed with the rest of his crew mates on the Tower Hill Memorial, presumably because he has not listed as missing.  The Memorial lists the Master as D. O. Redding, but I have not yet been able to his full name.  The date of death for all involved is given as 31 May 1917, which is the day the HIGHBURY sailed from Halifax.

 

Malcolm

[Malcolm12hl]

According to Paul Kemp's book Convoy Protection The Defence of Seaborne Trade, HIGHBURY and another British tramp steamer, Cory Brothers' RAVENSHOE, were unable to keep up with the first transatlantic convoy, with HIGHBURY being torpedoed "on the return journey to Halifax".  On the face of things, it seems unlikely that HIGHBURY would have turned back considering how far eastwards she seems to have travelled before she straggled.  Fayle's Seaborne Trade simply says that two ships fell behind, one of which was torpedoed and the second arrived safely five days behind the convoy.  Does anyone know (a) if U 66's war diary gives any indication of the heading of the first vessel she sank on 10 June, and/or (b) if the British report on the convoy gives an indication of when/where the two stragglers fell behind?

[Michael Lowrey]

U 66's KTB states that the first ship sunk was on a heading of 70°.

[Malcolm12hl]

Thank you, Michael - that would seem to confirm that, if the ship in question was HIGHBURY, which seems likely, that she was continuing on to the Mersey, and had not turned back.  I will see if I can track down the report of proceedings of the commander of the escort (the armoured cruiser ROXBURGH) to see what it has to say about the stragglers.

[Matlock1418]

Returning to the "Taplow" sinking

https://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/search.php - have as 

Date	U-boat	Commander		Name of ship	Type of ship	Tons	Nat.
14 Jun 1917	U 82	Hans Adam		Taplow	Steamer	2,981		br

Torpedoed about 100 miles WSW of Bishop Rock

But I have no idea about their source(s) and their date of sinking differs from date of sailing given in the OP by nine days - Could/would it have taken that long to arrive and be sunk how/where it is suggested?

M

Edited 25 October , 2022 by Matlock1418
position

[Matlock1418]

On 04/06/2020 at 00:13, Michael Lowrey said:

The "Mr. Roberts" mentioned above wasn't Highbury's master but rather her second mate. His CWGC entry is here: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/671035/roberts,-/

William Watkin ROBERTS,

Image courtesy of WFA/Fold3

M

Edit: WFA/Fold3 also have a pension card for Richard Henry CARTER, Carpenter, "Highbury"

Edited 25 October , 2022 by Matlock1418
edit

[Matlock1418]

WFA/Fold3 also have pension cards for the "Taplow"

Alexander ALLEN, Boatswain

William F CLARINGBOLD, Ship's Cook

Alfred FRANK, 1st Mate

William STEPHENS, A.B.

M

Edited 25 October , 2022 by Matlock1418
typo